In downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning, "Si, se puede!" chants echoed outside a Ross Dress for Less store as picketers from the Garment Worker Center demanded fair wages.
They repeated the widely used union chant, which translates to "yes, it is possible" or "yes, we can," to advocate for local garment workers who are denied minimum wage and subjected to poor working conditions.
"Garment workers that are producing for Ross here in Los Angeles are earning about $5 per hour," said Mariela Martinez, an organizing coordinator for the non-profit Garment Worker Center. "We want to put a stop to this by demanding that Ross and other brands really take accountability for what happens on the sweatshop floors and we also want the city to create a task force to really tackle these issues."
The workers are not employed by Ross directly but by third-party vendors that supply clothes for the budget retail chain.
This is the fourth time groups from Garment Worker Center have protested recently in front of Ross stores. Martinez said the stores have been cooperating with protesters but have not made any changes.
"We're seen as workers in the shadows that don't deserve a minimum wage and that's just absolutely outrageous," she said. "Factories have been shut down and workers have been fired for speaking about these conditions."
Martinez said that consumers need to be made more aware of the conditions garment workers are subjected to.
"Visibility is what will create the change because government workers sometimes aren't considered part of the production system when you see clothing on the rack," she said. "We need to bring those voices to the stores."
Frequent Ross shopper Miki Turner, who teaches journalism at Annenberg, was unaware of the claims by company's garment producers about their working conditions.
"I'm really sorry to hear that because I shop there quite a bit," she said. "In hearing that I just think that that's kind of industry-wide. The retail industry has always had some kind of jankiness going on, but if this is, in fact, true then I'm going to have to reassess my spending habits at Ross."
Exploitation of garment workers has been a subject of protest for some time. A 2015 study by the Garment Worker Center claims the LA garment industry is a leader in wage theft with a minimum wage violation rate of over 50 percent. Unions called for a boycott of the American Apparel clothing chain last year after hundreds of workers were laid off, and low wages for sweatshop workers continue to be discussed even as California begins the process of raising its minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
A press release that Ross provided to its customers emphasized that the protests were about workers employed by third-party vendors, not by the company itself.
"We also work very closely with the Department of Labor to make sure our vendors understand and comply with all applicable federal, state local and international laws related to products we purchase and sell, and this is an ongoing and continuous effort," the release said.
Store management was unable to comment further. Annenberg Media also reached out to the Ross media team but did not receive a response.
The protesters also marched to City Hall and attempted to speak with personnel from Mayor Eric Garcetti's office, but did not make much leeway since City Council was in session. Martinez said another Garment Worker Center delegation plans to return to City Hall next week.
Reach Staff Reporter Katie Giacobbe here.
Annenberg Media